Memo alleging FBI abuse released on Trump?s okay

WASHINGTON: The US Congress released a Republican memo Friday alleging bias in FBI investigations into Donald Trump’s election campaign, moments after the president authorized the explosive move.

“What’s happening in our country is a disgrace,” Trump said, announcing that he had declassified the memo drafted by Republican Congressman and former Trump transition team official Devin Nunes.

“A lot of people should be ashamed,” added Trump, who earlier Friday accused the leaders of the Justice and FBI of politicizing their investigation in favor of the Democrats.“So I sent it over to Congress. They will do what they’re going to do. Whatever they do is fine. It was declassified, and let’s see what happens.”

The move set up an extraordinary confrontation with the country’s top law enforcement authorities, and triggered speculation that FBI Director Christopher Wray would step down just six months into the job. Trump’s critics allege the memo is designed to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his campaign’s ties with Russia, which US intelligence agencies unanimously agree tried to tilt the election in his favor.

Based on classified materials, the four-page document claims that the FBI used an unsubstantiated, Democratic-funded research report to obtain a warrant in 2016 to surveil Trump advisor Carter Page, who had extensive Russian contacts. The FBI had warned that the memo, crafted by Nunes as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, contained “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

But Trump lashed out hard at the leaders of the FBI and Justice Department as he prepared to declassify the document. “The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans,” he tweeted. The president called the alleged bias “something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!” The document, which has circulated among many members of Congress, was based on the highly classified, much larger record of the application to obtain a so-called FISA national security warrant in 2016 to surveil Page.

from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2nzyNXt